A Taste of Canadian Flavour Gala

The Canadian Flavour’s Gala, held at Terminal City Club on April 30th, kicked off the 2015 Eat! Vancouver’s Food and Cooking Festival. Chefs from some of Canada’s most well-known restaurants offered samples of their Canadian culinary creations paired with spring release wines from the Naramata Bench Wineries Association.

It was an amazing evening, with the chance to try some fabulous food with expert wine choices. Here is a quick video of the vibe of the event. If you can imagine yourself here, keep an eye out for next year’s Flavour’s Gala.

Here are some of our top choices from the evening.

Cured Ocean Trout with Sour Cream, Pickled Onion, and Trout Roe, Chef Jeremie Bastien, Montreal’s Restaurant Leméac This was more suble than smoked salmon but still had a deliciously smokey flavour. Very fresh and not too rich.

Prosecco Poached Oysters, Chef Andrew Winfield, River Cafe. I’m not usually a huge oyster fan due, but these were poached so still tasted fresh and ocean kissed, but didn’t have the texture of a raw oyster. They tasted so good I had three!

Chef Ryan O’Flynn of The Westin Edmonton described his dish as “Canada on a Plate”. His Terrine of pine-smoked Sturgeon and cured Quebec Fois Gras was a 2015 Canadian Gold Medal Plates competition winner.

For both of us, the dish of the night was Chef Joel Green’s Alaska Weathervane Scallops and Risotto with Buerre Rouge. If this is a sample of the menu at The Lobby Restaurant and Lounge, we’ll be visiting for sure.

A yummy selection of Upper Bench Cheese.
There was a HUGE selection of wine with more than 20 vineyards representing the Naramata area.

The Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise™ program received partial proceeds from the evening. Many of the chef’s supported the program with their choice of Ocean Wise sustainable seafood.

Did you attend? What was your “pick of the night?” Leave a comment below.